Thursday, January 21, 2010

MLS® Real Estate Recovery Hits the Kootenay’s.

If the MLS® story in 2008 was about peak inventory levels, the story in 2009 was about trying to predict when the sluggish real estate market in the Kootenay’s would recover. When compared to past real estate statistics of Total MLS® Sales from 1989 to 2009, the 1st Quarter of
2009 ranked the second worst on record. The 2nd Quarter ranked dead last. It wasn’t until the 3rd Quarter of 2009 that the MLS® markets started to recover, moving up the ranking to a respectable 13. 2009 ended with Kootenay real estate markets in full recovery mode and a 4th quarter ranking showing a very respectable 4th when compared to market performance over the last 21 years.

Kootenay Real Estate Board President Jim Barber comments: “We all expected that 2009 would be an interesting year with consumers waiting for the financial markets to stabilize before making decisions on buying real estate. The very low 1st and 2nd Quarter MLS® Total Unit Sales statistics show that there was a patient buyer population out there waiting for the right combination of interest rate and real estate price adjustments. As we moved into the 3rd Quarter, affordability spiked as those adjustments occurred, and that group or buyers entered back into our markets, setting the stage for a strong end to the year.”

When asked about his predictions for real estate markets in the Kootenay’s for 2010 President Barber remarked: “Generally, I’m cautiously optimistic about Kootenay Real Estate Markets in 2010. Our Provincial and National Real Estate Association Economists are indicating we are out of the “technical recession” and they are predicting an increase in the number of MLS® Unit Sales across the province. Market conditions are still good for buyers as interest rates remain low, and the inventory of housing stock slightly higher than average. We continue to move towards a position of balance in the market as inventory levels decline and interest rates trend higher in the last half of 2010. Overall it should be another reasonably good year for the real estate buying public.”

MLS® Dollar Volume of all sales processed through the Kootenay Real Estate Board reached almost $640 Million Dollars in 2009, a drop of 17% from 2008 levels of over $768 Million Dollars of real estate changing hands. MLS® Unit Sales finished 2009 down 13% when compared to total MLS® Unit Sales in 2008. The price of the average Residential Detached house sold on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in 2009 declined 8% to $291,561 compared to the amount of $316,600 reported in 2008.

Kootenay Real Estate Board Nelson, BC January 15, 2010

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